The War on Drugs

This song, "Taking the Farm" by The War on Drugs is about a year old, but nevertheless, I'm just being turned on to it now. For some reason, a lot of the songs I like a lot, I imagine playing at a particular moment in a persons life. I may be in a specific narrative/context or it may just represent a particular feeling. Not like a soundtrack, but almost like whatever vibe the individual is emanating at that moment in time. And for this song, I imagine playing at a precise moment of realization for a character, especially for the intro and first verses, and this character begins rushing to someone(?) or something in order to actualize whatever he/her has come to terms with. Good shit.

Oh and the guitar blips in the first 30 seconds remind me of dolphins vocalizing ha

Electric Owls

So when I came accross the "Magic Show" EP back last year, I obviously set high expectations for the upcoming album, especially when I heard Matt Gentling of Band of Horses was involved. Needless to say expectations have been met...exceeded? mmmh dunno as of yet... They actually remind me a lot of The Who, and I know how big of a claim that is, so i'll attempt to back it up. Looking in "Magic Show" in particular- obviously the use of electric guitar as a monumental force in the song, the focal point of the "magic"...Townsend obviously was a master of this. Also, the use of the lyrics- The way Herod tell a story, just in a linear fashion, really reminds me of Tommy. And I just get the vibe, and thats obviously whats most important ha. Great track and album regardless.

Chad VanGaalen

As simple and heartfelt as it gets. I don't think I've ever heard of vikings being so...romance driven...but it works beautifully. Is it morbid to say I imagine this song playing when i die?...yea, defiantly a bit weird...

New Order

So now that everyone is going ga ga over synthesizers and computerized beats, i think its only fair that people realize that a suprising amount of these layered beats are sampled directly from the New Order catalog. Probably the best thing to come out of England in the 80's (after Swatch watches of course) New Order redefined what it ment to be a pop band....ok, scratch that, i dont like were im going with that...

Basically, New Order used synthesizers in ways never thought of before to create a wide range of music. I think that can be clearly seen by comparing "ceremony" to say "temptation". I can't say that I love all there work, but what I have caught onto, I have with a vengence. So many cliche 80's sounds in a song, combined to make something blissfully wonderful. Dont be ashamed to play these, the 80's at their finest. Fun fact: these guys were apparently brutal live in concert, go figure.

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

New album just in time for summer. No suprise they have their roots intertwined with Daft Punk....just much too heartfelt to be robots...

What Up Fam- Robust

Introspective beats to bring it all back down to earth...

Manners- Passion Pit

This probably need'nt be said, but download the album and put it on around the height of the next party your are at, then let the damcing on tables ensue. Who knew a valentines day gift could incite this...

Vampire Weekend- Unreleased Material

So Vampire Weekends debut album was unquestionably at the forefront of last summers playlist and now that its been well overplayed (in a conventional sense of course; i don't think i'll ever tire of them) I'll laud them a bit more and move on. They've legitimized a ivy diploma's in the indie scene while keeping it modest and giving us one of the best ending song lines ever ("All your collegiate grief has left you dowdy in sweatshirts, absolute horror!"). So here's to making VW standout again this summer too with some concert material and tracks unreleased in the US- not only for the ladies of Cambridge to enjoy anymore...classic radiohead covers only prove them to be more versatile then originally thought. They are just too damn cool for school, bravo.

Places Like This- Architecture in Helsinki

So again, I'm about a year and half behind the ball on this one, but whatever. When I first listened to the album, right away it reminded me of The Talking Heads- Goofy instrumentals paired with equally goofy subject matter ("underwater"), wild rants by Bird parelleling Byrne, ect. I feel like this comparison is drawn way too often, but damn it holds true for this album- listen to "Debbie" and you will know what i mean immediately. Here's the video for my favorite track "Like it or Not"...the intro is so cool, as well as the breakdown at around 2 min.

Brighten the Corners- Nicene Creedence Edition

Bout time i got around to this- its the 4th re-issue of the Pavement albums, having already re-vamped Slanted and Enchanted, Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, and Wowee Zowee. As expected, its a gem packed with goodies on the second disc, including unreleased tracks and radio sessions. Of particular interest
- an energetic "harness your hopes" ("and cauterizing syrup!!"),
- a delightfully tortured "killing moon".
- Scott Kannenberg singing lead in "Winner of the" alongside an airy keyboard. He also sings lead for in the Peel session for "Date W/Ikea". Fantastic. Classic spiral stairs on "Passat Dream" on disc 1.
- And just for fun, the disc ends with the 2 Space Ghost themes. The buildup in the second theme is so great. Its amazing how such a seemingly uninterested voice can have so much power behind it. Nastiovich barking "get off my planet" in the background only adds to the appeal.

Basically the reissue is a treasure chest with wavering guitar and whacked out riffs the whole way through. By far the most upbeat, unquestionably happy album. Almost like the group had come to terms with themselves. Truly a new, perfectly imperfect form of classic rock.

one disappointment, the lacking of a live version of "stereo". The beauty of the song lies in in the craziness of malkmus expressions in relation to the nonsensical lines. The chorus also seems so much more powerful when malkmus is screaming "LISTEN TO ME!" Its what really give saliency to the song i think. Check out Pavements BBC sessions and you'll see what i mean

New Roman Times

another band out of Austin (no relation to the titled Camper Van Beetoven album from like 2005(?). These guys released their first album, International Affairs a few years back and recently put out some new stuff. International Affairs is a very low key album, reminds me of some of the stuff Pinback has done, but a lot less pop-y. Check out the two tracks below...

Alice in Videoland

A decent portion of the music i find comes from the ski industry. whether or not i should be a bit embarrased by that i have yet to determine. regardless, this track came from a featured segment in a swedish (mabye norwegian?) film from a couple years back. Alice in videoland (also from sweden) are sortof like an electroclash group- swedens answer to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with a less annoying leadsinger who also happens to be a lot scarier and edgier without trying. Posted below is the song "going down" from the trailer of Teddy Bear Crisis. Cool.

Hello All

so basically this blog chronicles music that gets me goin. Ive been wanting to do this for a while, so the first posts will be me catching up sortof...as time goes on, I'm sure posts will become less frequent... I think its only appropriate my first post pays homage to the blogs namesake- pavement. I hate to have one artist have a domineering presence, but i have a feeling Pavement/Malkmus evidently will...

So here's a solo performance of Box Elder by Malkmus. He slows it down a bit, and lets the simple guitar riff jingle along, whereas on Westing, the guitar gets a bit buried (although it should be noted it doesnt detract from the song at all). Enjoy